Car Free Day ATX: Where the Sidewalks Begin

An Austin newcomer hopes the car-free crusade leads to more concrete plans

By Sarah Thurmond

Published: September 21, 2012

Photo from Thinkstock

This Saturday, millions of people are giving up their automobiles and pledging to use other forms of transportation. Known as Car Free Day, this event has been taking place annually in cities around the world since 2000, but this is the first year Austin is joining the car-free society movement.

Leading the effort is Austin newcomer Jessica Tunon. Although she has been on a “car-free diet” since 2008, her involvement with Car Free Day ATX came about in a roundabout way.

A former financial analyst in the Washington D.C. area, Tunon moved to the capital city last New Year’s Eve. The next day, she says, she had a rude awakening. As she walked the four blocks from her apartment on West Fifth Street to Bikram Yoga, she discovered what many Austinites deal with on a daily basis: no sidewalks. “I thought, I cannot believe there’s nothing here. How do people get across the street safely?” she says.

While most of us shrug our shoulders at this inconvenience, Tunon took it upon herself to do something about it. She began contacting city departments, hoping it would be just a matter of putting in a request for a sidewalk. She walked to Magnolia Cafe with a city official, pointing out how sporadic sidewalks are along the route. In February, she spoke at a bond election advisory task force meeting, thinking bond money could go toward sidewalks. She reached out to the bicycle community, learning cyclists wouldn't mind having sidewalks along certain dangerous roads. What she discovered is that everyone is in agreement—there is a need for more sidewalks—but laying down a patch of concrete is no easy feat.

For starters, it’s expensive. On average, it costs $24 per square foot to lay down a sidewalk, but there are other factors that increase the amount, says Tunon. “You have to look at the infrastructure. You have to move a tree or telephone poles or bus stops. You have to go underneath to actually make those changes in some areas,” she says. “I didn't realize how much money it actually costs.”

Another hurdle is that sidewalks are not a high priority on the city’s Pedestrian Master Plan. “There are so many organizations wanting the same thing, but it’s just getting there,” Tunon says. “Money, of course, is the issue. Everyone has money allocated to certain things, but when are you going to get it? Is it going to be 2013, ’14, ’15 or even further? And that’s the problem, getting higher on the list. Everyone wants to be the top priority—bike lanes, sidewalks, all that good stuff. So everyone’s for it, it’s just how you get there.”

Tunon has been told that if she wants sidewalks, it would be up to her to raise most of the money. She’s applying for the Austin City Council’s Neighborhood Partnership Program, where the city helps foot the bill for public-improvement projects. Tunon also plans on having a fundraiser in the near future.

With help from her “partner in crime,” Gwen Jewiss, a past president of the West Austin Neighborhood Group, Tunon is well on her way to getting the sidewalks she believes the city needs, especially in the downtown area where more residents are expected to move.

That’s where Car Free Day ATX comes into the picture. Even though the emphasis is on finding alternative forms of transportation, whether it be walking, cycling or even roller skating, it’s a step toward awareness, Tunon says: “It’s still one and the same for me. It’s just getting people to acknowledge the fact that you can walk, but when you do decide to walk, how safe is it for you to get there?”

Car Free Day ATX kicks off tomorrow with Mayor Pro Temp Sheryl Cole at 9 a.m. at the SFC Farmers’ Market in Republic Square Park. There will be a happy hour at Tacos-n-Tequila beginning at 5:30 p.m. (RSVP is requested through Ticketbud.) For more information about the day, including prizes from Kendra Scott, KLBJ and others, go to carfreedayatx.com or facebook.com/CarFreeDayATX.